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Don’t blabber

Have you ever blabbered? If you are like any of the rest of us, you have probably, at some point, overly chattered about something. Maybe that speech pattern is part of your personality, or perhaps, you were so excited about the subject that you just couldn’t stop talking about it. Whatever! Palavering is part of all of us...even quiet little old me. For instance... At a recent library committee meeting, we were discussing our recently read books. I began to gibber on about the book I had just read. I told the story of a jilted countess and couldn’t stop. Suddenly, the entire ...

Ask a Trooper

Question: I heard about a thing called “Vanessa’s Law” the other day and I wasn’t quite sure what it was all about. I know it has to do with new or young drivers. Answer: Vanessa Weiss was killed just days before her 16th birthday in May 2003. In her memory, Vanessa’s Law was passed a year later. She was a passenger in a vehicle driven by an unlicensed 15-year-old. Vanessa’s Law applies to all teens who commit an impaired driving crime or crash-related moving violation but applies differently whether you have a provisional license or are unlicensed. If you are ...

School officials lose trust over reductions

If a person were to attend, or watch on local TV the Marshall School District board meetings, one of the first items every time is an open forum. While the board specifically states that no action will be taken, they are there to “listen to what is brought up” during this open forum time. After watching the last two meetings, I am wondering why this item is even on the agenda? Indeed, they allow community members, staff, and others to present ideas, suggestions or maybe even dialog that they have had with the schools. Specifically in watching the last two meetings there have been ...

An ancestral surprise

The results of a recent genetic test shook me to the core. It seems that I’m not who I thought I was. Some years ago, I sent a spit sample to 23andMe. The test revealed, unsurprisingly, that I’m 100% Norwegian. All my ancestors came from Norway; the test simply confirmed that I’m the whitest guy on the planet. The folks at Ancestry.com recently ran a promotion for their genetic testing. I’ve been working on our family tree at Ancestry.com and thought it would be interesting to know if there were any hidden connections in my genetic past. My Viking ancestors spread their ...

Changes for the better

Last week’s warm up has me optimistic, foremost that the old groundhog was wrong in his prediction of six more weeks of winter, but also just from the fact that temperatures soaring into the 40s and even 50s on some of those days following Phil’s prognostication, suggest at least an easier trudge is at hand through February and the start of the next season. Along with the hope of open water, news across the conservation community in the upper Midwest brought a more auspicious outlook to the young year, with the release of a new habitat program in North Dakota and more options for ...

Minnesota in center of the news universe

We spent time in southern California. I could write about walking along beaches, warm sunsets, and missing bitter cold back here. Perhaps I will. But today, I must join my voice to the resistance. What is happening to fellow human beings, sometimes for no offense other than having dark skin is horrific, indefensible, and wrong on a thousand levels. Much is being said and written. Perhaps it is prideful of me to think the voice of one old farmer in Brown County matters. For what it’s worth, I must join the protesters and say, “This is wrong.” “Obama deported people, too.” ...